Wow, it seems like forever since I’ve written a blog post. So you might be wondering, what the hell is going on?!
I’ve asked myself that a number of times in the last couple of weeks. It started on January 27th of this year. I was on my way to my nephew’s basketball game, about an hour from where we live. So…there was a whole lotta staring out the window thinking about nothing in particular.
I’ll back up a few months ago when I began hearing her voice. Whose voice? Her voice. I knew exactly who she was. And I’d chosen to ignore her for a very long time. No way was I going to commit to what she was asking of me. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I didn’t have the time or the energy. Better to just pretend like she didn’t exist.
Well that lasted a couple of months. And I think she got pissed off at me during that time.
So now let’s go back to January 27th when I’m sitting in the passenger seat of my car watching the Michigan landscape fly by me. I was suddenly struck by some invisible force (and I mean HARD) that resulted in all these thoughts pooling in my mind like a hemorrhage; as if someone took a baseball bat to my brain and started beating the ideas right out of me. I squeezed my eyes shut and willed them away. I got on Twitter. I counted the cars that passed; thought of the lyrics to different songs; ANYTHING to keep me distracted. And when nothing worked, I finally gave in, pulled out my trusty iPhone notes app and started jotting away.
I wasn’t really going to take it serious. Oh no. Definitely NOT. Ok, maybe a flash story. A short story. But nothing more than that. I knew it was her voice again, vying for attention. Ho ho! I’ll be damned if within that hour drive, she suddenly had a face, a name, and a reason for existing in my thoughts.
So by now you're probably wondering, who is she?
'She' is the protagonist to a storyline that's been rattling the bars, hellbent to be unleashed from it's imprisonment in the back of my head. The same story I've done my best to smother the last few months because I'm in the thick of my Halos trilogy. I just needed to take a couple of notes so that once I'm finished with Halos, I could switch gears and start something new.
Well that sneaky little…
I ended up writing 10K words that weekend. By week’s end, I had about 40K. The week after that, another 20K. Here I am, just over a month after I’d first sat down and I’m FINISHED with the novel’s first draft at 96K. No. Kidding. This isn’t the sequel to Halos. This wasn’t even meant to be. So WTF?!
Good question. I’ve been trying to tease that out for the last month. It turns out, my MC wasn't the only one looking for attention - apparently she told her friends. Because in addition to this one little book that I was supposed to simply humor for a few minutes, I now have about 8 storylines bouncing around in my head - one for each of the brothers in this handsome brood of wrath demons. That’s right, wrath demons. Sons of Wrath. Can you guess what their specialty is?
My favorite topic of all time – vengeance.
I’ve been dying to write a story a bit closer to home. As many of you know, Somnium is set in Kittery, Maine. If you’ve read any of my interviews or guests posts then you know that one of my favorite movies in the world is The Crow, set in a very gothic Detroit. Oh yes, I fell in love instantly when this movie first came out and not just because of Brandon Lee (RIP) or the kickass soundtrack that accompanied it. There was an instant connection that I felt. Perhaps because it was something cool that seemed close to home for me.
So I decided it’s time I write something of my own. This new series is set in gothic Detroit.
I tossed around whether or not to do anything with it. It’s a different style of writing for me. But I guess that’s why it came so easily. It was new and…well, different. One of those things – did I write this for myself? Was it just an exercise to keep writer’s block at bay? I don’t know. But I think the storyline turned out pretty decent for a fast written draft. So I’m going to keep toiling away on my obsessive edits and see what I have when I’m finished.
I’m pretty excited about it! For those who’ve become fans of Somnium, I’ll just warn you that this book is edgier. There’ll be more violence, action, strong language and the love scenes are bit steamier than before, methinks.
Once this book is finished, I’ll be back to Requiem, book 2 of the Halos trilogy. But it would have been irresponsible of me not to take advantage of the creative flood that burst through the gates and seized my attention. And I can’t wait to introduce you to Ayden…the feisty female who acted as the catalyst behind all of this madness.
Turns out, she’s one badass chica that I’ve come to know and really hate to love.
Have you ever been struck with an idea that you simply could not ignore no matter how desperately you tried?